Distance Enough
by Derry
Summary: Edmund always observes, takes action when it's required and never forgets. Events from the Prince Caspian movie.
1. Chapter 1

_Although this is posted in a 'books' category, I have to admit that it's been years since I read the Narnia books and so this fic really is based more on the characters and situations as depicted in the Walden/Disney movies._

_Hence, I don't own any of said characters and situations. I expect that they belong to C.S. Lewis' estate and the aforementioned Walden & Disney production companies. But no profit made, nor harm intended._

_Feedback of all kinds is appreciated (and yes, that does mean that you can tell me how and why you don't like it)._

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Edmund Pevensie turns and walks back along the Strand. Not able to stand the prospect of being cooped up in that crowded station any longer than absolutely necessary, he's taken the opportunity to wander off for a minute or two, as has always been his wont. The habit doesn't seem to worry his brother and sisters as much as it used to. He's not the magnet for trouble that he once was. But although their train isn't due until quarter to, it's time he headed back because it really wouldn't do to let them start thinking of even the possibility that he might miss it. Not with the way both Peter and Susan have been on edge lately.

His sisters dart across the road, as he nears the station, Lucy tugging on Susan's arm with an urgency that definitely does not bode well. They disappear into the Underground and Edmund dodges traffic to catch up, making it to the station entrance little more than a minute behind them. Even so, he still loses sight of them amongst the mob of shouting kids that has gathered on the platform at the base of the stairs. It's deductive reasoning, more than instinct, that makes him determinedly push his way through the crowd. After all, why would Lucy have franticly fetched Susan, if Peter wasn't somehow involved in all this?

Nonetheless, he's vaguely aware, as he passes his sisters in the crowd, that each of them are responding with instincts shaped by their position in the family. Lucy, the youngest child, has immediately turned to Susan with inherent faith that somehow her older sister will be able to fix things. Susan, so much cleverer than people give her credit for and yet always expected to follow Peter's lead, quickly assesses the scene and frowns, with a small shake of her head that's halfway between disbelief and resignation.

Peter is being held down by two other boys. A third is picking himself up off the ground and looks about to re-enter the fray.

Edmund does what any brother would do. He dives straight in, tackling Peter's nearest assailant to the ground without stopping to even consider what the fight might be about. His opponent goes down like the proverbial sack of spuds. Yeah, let's see how they like it now, when the odds are evened up a bit. They still seem to be concentrating on Peter, which gives Edmund more of a free hand. First threat dealt with, he throws himself at another, but before he can properly subdue his new opponent, a whistles sounds and one of the wardens pulls him off. A few stern words of authority and the fight breaks up almost immediately. The crowd disappears in haste and neither Peter nor either of the girls say anything as they collect their bags and move down the platform to wait for the train.

Edmund tells himself that he doesn't really expect any acknowledgement. Backing each other up in a fight is just one of those things that brothers do. Yet, he can't help throwing a quietly sarcastic "You're welcome" at his brother, as Peter slumps onto the bench beside him.

"I had it sorted," Peter replies and Edmund almost blinks. Well, he supposes that _is_ an acknowledgement of sorts.

The girls start in on Peter almost immediately, wanting to know what on earth started the fight, and while Edmund can understand Peter's refusal to back down from some idiot's attempt to intimidate him, he can also see his sisters' point of view that turning things into a full on brawl didn't really accomplish much.

Edmund does understand his brother's frustration. Peter doesn't want to be treated like a kid anymore, which is really quite inconvenient since he _is_ a kid now and his younger brother can't resist pointing out that rather obvious fact. As far as this world is concerned, they never have been anything else, but Peter has memories of leading soldiers into battle and a hundred and one other "life or death" decisions made on behalf of an entire country. He has known and experienced things that the adults around them couldn't even dream of and it grates when they patronisingly tell him that he'll understand when he's older.

Peter and Lucy are convinced that someday they'll return to Narnia and constantly speculate on when and how. Susan doesn't think it will happen and is determined to ground herself in the reality of living in England. Edmund doesn't think he's really formed a firm opinion either way and so, he's neither pining for something that he used to have nor clinging to what he has now. It probably gives him distance enough to view the tensions pulling at his brother and sisters from an impartial and more balanced perspective.

But speaking of tensions pulling at them, what the hell was that? One by one, all four of them shoot to their feet, trying to get away from the strange otherworldly sensation. Lucy says something about it being magic and Susan shouts that they should all hold hands. Edmund protests loudly when Peter grabs hold of his, like they're also girls or something. He is certainly not going to admit that it helps in grounding him against the disorientation of watching the entire station platform appear to melt away in the wind rush from a passing train. Suddenly, they are no longer standing in a man made tunnel of bricks and concrete, but instead staring out of a rocky cave onto a brightly sunlit beach.

Okay, magic it is, then.

The girls are already laughing and running along the beach, when Peter shoves his brother back a pace, an absurdly childish ploy to get a headstart in the race to the water's edge. Apparently being a kid again isn't such a bad thing anymore. Not for any of them.

Edmund grins, as he sets off in pursuit.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a lot to take in.

Cair Paravel is in ruins. All the signs point to it falling in some brutal siege. From the size of some of the trees now growing what was once the centre of the Great Hall, it happened centuries ago, but even after all the erosion over time, the catapault damage to the inner walls is still fiercely evident and virtually none of the outer walls are left at all. Yet the underground chambers appear to be almost completely undisturbed. Guided by the electric torch that Edmund brought with him, they've been able to explore the lower caverns and, amazingly, the chests in which they always kept their most precious possessions are still almost exactly as they had left them.

But to destroy the buildings on the surface so utterly and yet leave the subterranean parts untouched, it's clear that the enemy (whoever they were) never intended to take Cair Paravel as a prize. Their intention had been to destroy it. Edmund can't help but wonder how many defenders fell with it? How long ago?

Peter's right; they need to work out exactly how, when and why the four of them have been returned to Narnia. The time has come to search for the answers in earnest.

Armed with a sword that's really in remarkably good condition after all this time and wearing old clothes that hadn't fitted him for years when he left Narnia, Edmund accompanies his brother and sisters back down to the water's edge with an easy stride. It's funny how comfortable and how _right_ it feels to be walking along the beach with a sword at his hip. The two lives he has led - or rather the two lives he is still living - are so very different. In one, negotiating international treaties was all in a day's work and he thought nothing of having a solid gold chess set, in the other, next week's algebra test is the biggest crisis on his horizon and he's ridiculously proud of his new electric torch. And yet it seems so easy to slip from one to the other. He's sure that this should all feel a lot stranger than it does.

Suddenly Susan races ahead of them, taking an arrow from her quiver, drawing back and letting it fly, all on the run. By the time he and the others have caught up with her, she has another arrow notched and aimed at two soldiers in a boat who appear to be holding a small captive. Edmund hears Peter draw his sword, even as his own clears its scabbard.

"Drop him!" Susan demands and unfortunately the soldiers in the boat take her a little too literally. The captive goes over the side with his hands and feet still apparently bound. He doesn't stand a chance.

Edmund and his brother immediately take off towards the water, even as another of Susan's arrows flies. It takes out one of the soldiers and the other wastes no time hanging around.

Peter waves a hand vaguely at Edmund and shouts "Boat!" just before they both dive into the water. The request is simple, clear and sensible. Peter obviously means to rescue the sinking captive himself, so Edmund strikes out towards the now drifting boat. A mooring line has fallen over the side, in easy reach from the water, and it's not much effort to pull the small boat into shore. Peter has already managed to get the rescued captive - a dwarf, it looks like - to the water's edge, as Edmund roughly tugs the bow of the boat onto the sand and goes to help his brother drag the small man to safety.

But when he's cut free, the dwarf responds with a burst of indignation rather than gratitude. He's scathing about Susan's previous instruction to "drop him" and points out that his captors needed no extra help in drowning him. Peter is not nearly as amused by that as Edmund (who thinks that the dwarf does have a point). Instead of introductions, they exchange a few sardonic barbs, but then (after delivering the shocking news that Telmarines have invaded Narnia) the dwarf seems to suddenly realise who the four of them are.

That doesn't mean he's at all impressed. "Oh, you got to be kidding me!"

Peter steps forward, offering his hand, "High King Peter." When he then adds, "The Magnificent," the dwarf looks at him askance and Susan tells him he probably could have left that last bit out. The dwarf sniggers and Edmund also has to fight down a smile (half-wishing he'd said that himself), but Peter does not seem to lose any composure at this affront to his dignity.

He is calm and matter of fact, as he draws his sword and says, "You might be surprised."

The dwarf's voice becomes low and dangerous. "You don't want to do that, boy."

"Not me, him." Peter offers the dwarf his own weapon and nods towards Edmund.

Momentary surprise gives way to a flash of pride. Even though Peter clearly still thinks that he has everything "sorted", he's trusting his younger brother to handle this one and Edmund grins as he raises his own blade to an en garde position. He then, of course, goes and lets his own overconfidence almost ruin it by letting his guard down when the dwarf fakes difficulty at handling Peter's sword.

Still grinning slightly, Edmund is looking towards his family, rather than his opponent, when the dwarf quickly hits him with an unexpected flurry of blows. One clout with the hilt lands on his face and he reels back, smarting both in terms of the physical pain and his injured pride. Annoyed with the dwarf, but even moreso with himself, he leaps nimbly over a low swipe at his legs and then counterattacks in a series of rapid strokes with cold, driving efficiency. One final twist disarms his opponent and the dwarf falls to his knees with an incoherent expletive.

They stare each other down for a split second. Edmund isn't going to be caught off guard again, even though the dwarf now seems almost dazed.

"I guess that horn must've worked after all."

"What horn?" Susan asks.

The dwarf becomes frankly incredulous. "_What horn?_ I'd have though _you_, of all people, would know."

"_My_ horn?" Susan guesses before she realises she hasn't actually introduced herself. "Oh, sorry, I'm Queen Susan."

The dwarf smirks. "The Gentle?" he asks half-jokingly, but not unkindly.

Susan seems a little embarrassed by the title, having been derisive of Peter announcing his a few minutes ago, but she's saved from replying by her younger sister jumping into the pause.

"And I'm Lucy. Can you tell us your name?"

The dwarf hesitates, clearly not one who gives his trust easily or quickly. "Trumpkin," he announces awkwardly.

Lucy beams brightly, probably in an attempt to dispel his unease. "Pleased to meet you, Mr Trumpkin."

"Oh, no." The dwarf looks even more disconcerted. "No, just Trumpkin will do." When Lucy frowns slightly at that, he adds "Please."

Peter interrupts, to bring them back to the main matter at hand. "You were saying something about Susan's horn?"

When Trumpkin looks at Peter now, it's clear that he's evaluating things in a completely different light. With only a slight hesitation, he tells them the story of a Telmarine boy fleeing through woods some distance from here, several nights ago.

"What he was carrying, well, it looked just like the Horn of Queen Susan, as it's always been described in the legends. I could hear other Telmarines coming towards us through the forest. Knew I had to get those bastards away from there. So, I told Nikkabrick and Trufflehunter to deal with the boy while I went to draw the Tellmarines off. Then I heard someone blowing a horn, just before the Telmarines pinned me down and began to bind and gag me."

"And then they just brought you here to drown you?" Lucy is incredulous, as she always has been at displays of wanton cruelty.

"No, they took me to their royal castle. You have to understand that we have been hiding from the Telmarines for generations. They thought we were extinct and so they brought me before their Lord Miraz and that's where I found out that the boy in the woods was his nephew, Caspian, who is the rightful heir to their Telmarine throne. Sounds like his uncle wants him dead. Kinship doesn't mean much to a man like that. Little wonder that the lad was fleeing to the woods in the dead of night, but how he got hold of Queen Susan's horn, I have no idea."

It's quite a tale and would seem to at least partially answer some of their questions. Edmund looks towards his brother. Peter meets his gaze and nods decisively, before turning back to Trumpkin.

"Sounds like we need to get to your friends and this Caspian chap. If Susan's horn is what brought us here, then that's where we should be heading."

He then abruptly turns and starts walking up the hill towards the ruins of Cair Paravel.

"Where are you going?" Susan calls after him.

Peter turns back briefly. "We'll need some basic supplies for the journey. And our friend here will need some weapons." He starts walking again, not even bothering to look back again, as he calls out. "Ed, make sure that boat is secured properly."

Edmund shares a look with his sisters before both girls shrug and wordlessly set off after Peter.

As he turns to check on the boat, Edmund notices that Trumpkin hasn't moved from where he's been sitting in sand. Edmund and his brother and sisters aren't the only ones who've had a lot to take in.

He smiles, as he offers the dwarf a hand up.

"By the way, you've probably already guessed, but I'm Edmund."

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End file.
